NCD Land Tax Tariffs to be reviewed

The current NCD land tax tariffs are expected to be reviewed against the latest updated valuation rolls.
NCD Governor Powes Pakop made the undertaking when receiving the 2014 updated valuation rolls on the 14th of March 2015 in Port Moresby.

The National Capital District Commission has been using Valuation Rolls dating back to 1992 for land rate purposes thus loosing significant revenue despite the Valuer General’’s attempt to update the roll in the past due to capacity issues.
According to the NCDC database, NCD has a total of 25,000 registered land parcels of which 19,000 are active however; their next step was to synchronize the records held at the Department of Lands with those at NCDC.

Governor Pakop said the current NCDC rating is based on the out-dated valuation roll which has accounted a total unimproved capital value of K681 million adding that this equates to the average unimproved value of each property in NCD at K37, 865.
“The current land tax tariffs are 3.5% and 2.3% of the improved capital value for Commercial and Residential properties respectively. We are yet to see the current value with the current market value of NCD properties; the increase is estimated to be significant.”

However, Governor assured property owners in NCD not panic as NCDC will be reviewing its current tax tariffs against the new valuation roll to ensure that the land tax is affordable for everyone and that the review will be captured in the 2015 amendments which will come into effect in 2016.
“NCDC in the past offset the loss of low values with higher tariffs. We have also received a lot of objections from the land owners of using higher tariff inconsistent with trade-practices in the rest of the world,” the Governor said.

Governor Pakop said NCDC later decided to strengthen the Valuer General through the support of K500, 000 to enable the Valuer General’s office to complete the NCD Valuation Rolls update.The Governor also commended the coordinated approach by National Capital District Commission and the Valuer General’s office to finally complete the valuation rolls saying it was timely and complements the current developments in the city.